Jan Lokpal Bill : The most sparkling thing about the whole Anna Hazare agitation for JLB is the spontaneous and massive support of the people turning the stir into a people's movement.It is an outburst of people's anger and anguish which are simmering since long as they face the monster of corruption everywhere in all spheres of life.Nothing moves without corruption.It has become all pervading.
It is also satisfying that the wide spread movement covering the whole length and breadth of the country has remained totally peaceful, spontaneous and Gandhian in its modus operandi, hopefully it will remain so.The enormous patience and wisdom of the peace loving Indian people deserve salute. The day the movement becomes violent, it would fizzled out as the puplic support to it would dry up immediately.
There is no doubt about the good intention of Team Anna.But so far as the merits of the JLB is concerned, there are some serious reservations which need to be kept in mind:
How is the Team Anna which includes some legal luminaries insisting that the Govt. (and now the Parliament) should give a written assurance/resolution to the effect that the JLB would be passed as it is in the present session of the parliament itself ? How can the Govt give assurance on behalf of the parliament? How can the parliament give such assurance without a discussion on the bill? Will it not be a mockery of the parliament? How can the constitutional authority of the parliament be undermined ? The conduct of MPs inside the parliament has been deliberately kept out of the judicial purview to ensure the independence of the parliament.It cannot and should not be compromised.
How can the judiciary be brought under the purview of Lokpal? What would be the independence of judiciary which is the corner stone of our constitution and democracy? Such bill even if passed will be declared null and void by the supreme court.
The JLB proposes to make a super power department with powers of investigation, prosecution and judgement over all the executive,parliament and judiciary which is not against the constitution but also the basic principle of justice which does not allow the powers of investigation, prosecution and judgement all vested in one body. If powers of CBI on corruption are also vested in Lokpal, who will watchdog the Lokpal?
The Team Anna appears to be over-enthusiastic, ambitious and arrogant too due to the overwhelming support of the people, and tends to project itself as the sole voice of the people.Such attitude if honoured is fraught with dangerous implications and serious consequences. Any pressure group which is able to garner the support of about one lakh people , can claim that it represents the whole people of the country, and a certain law must be made according to its whims and fancy bypassing all the constitutional procedures. In that case the country would be thrown to winds, and the unity and integrity of the nation would be imminently threatened . Team Anna must be reasonable and should not try to undermine the constitution, the parliment and democratic process, though one can understand the reason behind such attitude of the Team- it has lost all faith in Govt and does not want to lose the momentum of its movement.
On the other hand, Govt and the politicians at large should now read the writings on the wall- the people's patience is losing, they have lost all faith in Govt and the politicians, they are pushed to the wall and their anger is bursting out as corruption has crossed all the limits making the life of all sections of people, from BPL people to corporate houses, from panchayat offices to THE PMO AND THE SUPREME COURT.If the politicians do not want repetition of Egypt, Tunisia,Syria and Libya,they should be serious about their business, they should act swiftly and bring a strong and effective Lokpal Bill to curb corruption in public life.
there is also a need to ensure the all- powerful Lokpal be accountable and it may also not become corrupt. When the Govt, the parliament, the judiciary and media become corrupt, why cannot be the Lokpal?
